By: A daring effort from the senior midway through the first half was the difference as the Blueboys ended non-conference play with a victory.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's soccer team took the lead in the first half through an amazing
Alexis Zazueta effort and then held on in the second half against an onslaught of Westminster College shots to end non-conference play with a 1-0 win over the Blue Jays. The Blueboys push their record to 6-5-0 while Westminster drops to 1-6-1 on the season.
A fast-paced start favored Westminster more than Illinois College. The Blue Jays outshot the Blueboys, 5-2, in the first 25 minutes of the contest before Zazueta changed the match with one kick.
Ryan May played the ball up to Zazueta on the right wing and with a defender closing in from behind and one charging towards him, Zazueta launched a ball from 40 yards out that caught Westminster's keeper off his line. The ball was lofted and angled perfectly where no play could be made and it settled in to the back of the net to swing the momentum in IC's favor.
The remaining 20 minutes or so of the first half was all Illinois College as the Blueboys pressed for a second goal. Zazueta nearly had his second goal of the match as a rebound off of a
Brock Ziegemeier header just moments after his goal. Pressure continued to mount on Westminster's half of the field and only a number of remarkable saves from Raul Belman kept the Blue Jays within a goal.
The chippiness that began in the tail end of the first half continued on in the second half. After one yellow was issued to Westminster in the first half, another was quickly given in the second half. Then, with the Blue Jays on the front foot in search of an equalizer, Austin Chandler was shown red, forcing Westminster to play the final 27 minutes a man down.
Despite the disadvantage, Westminster controlled much of the action in the second half and only a solid defensive effort from the back four and
Ty Clearwater kept the Blue Jays from tying it. Daniel Barone in particular gave the Blueboys fits in the middle of the field, and both he and Mauricio Mateo buzzed the left post within 40 seconds of each other in the 80th minute. The final shot from Westminster came in the 86th minute and Clearwater was there for his seventh save of the match. The Blueboys did well to push the ball down the field and into the corner in the final minute of action to close it out.
Ziegemeier ended with a team-high three shots, two of which were on goal.
Nick Copley, May,
Josh Schmidt and Zazueta all had two shots in the match.
Illinois College now has seven regular-season matches remaining, all of them against Midwest Conference opponents. The final push starts on Sept. 30 with a home match against Grinnell College beginning at 3:30 p.m.
